On November 16, Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, chair of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, launched the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) which is an initiative of Qatar Foundation.

Addressing the Guest of Honour, Irina Bokova, newly elected UNESCO Director-General, and 1,000 opinion leaders from 120 countries, Sheikha Mozah said in her speech “Innovation in education, which is the focus of this Summit should become an achievable and executable process. It should be at the heart of the education which is the force which exerts human energy and guides it wisely for the purpose of expanding human intelligence and creativity to serve the objective of just and equitable human societies, therefore this Summit requires us to debate deeply and discuss a series of issues at the core of the right to education in order to draft an agreement on which we can build our next steps”.

WISE is a global groundbreaking collaborative initiative established by Qatar Foundation under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned. WISE will contribute to 21st century challenges and their impact on education.

For more on WISE click here.

dazzling Qatar Royals Education, Patronage, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser

Five months ago Her Majesty Queen Rania visited two schools in Jerash Governorate that were suffering from serious infrastructure problems such as broken windows, crumbling walls, peeling paintwork, unpaved terrain, inadequate sanitary facilities and poor lighting.

Her visit to the same two schools on Wednesday 4 November 2009 was to check on the completed renovation work. Queen Rania saw noticeable changes for the better. Queen Rania visited classrooms that were completed the renovations and listened to school girls talking about the change their school went through.

dazzling Jordanian Royals Education, Queen Rania

View the image at Casa Real

 Today must have been a special day for Princess Letizia, as she returned to her homeland, Asturias. As you all surely remember, she was born in Oviedo, its capital. By the way, next Friday the Prince and the Princess of Asturias will be there again to attend the presentation ceremony of the 2009 Princes of Asturias Awards which is without doubt the major annual event they attend. Oviedo is already waiting for its Prince and Princess and its prizewinners…but everything in good time.

Today the Princess was in Candás, a beautiful fishing village in the north of Asturias famous for its Internatinal Sadine Festival (this blogger can testify to that) to visit the San Felix school. This centre is part of EducaRed program which is promoted by Fundación Telefónica and whose main goal is to apply Internet as a tool of innovation and pedagogic training among teachers, parents and pupils of primary and secondary education, baccalaureate and formative cycles of average degree, to improve the quality of their education and to encourage the equality of opportunities. Currently in Spain more than 12,000 schools are registered in this program.

See you in Oviedo next week!

Paty Spanish Royals Children, Education, Internet, Princess Letizia, Princess of Asturias

Click to see the image at Getty

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan visited The Young Women’s Leadership School East Harlem, New York. During the visit, Her Majesty met with some of the students and staff, they discussed the importance of what education plays in daily life and how it can improve children’s lives.

Accompanying Her Majesty was UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman. Her Majesty served as UNICEF’s Eminent Advocate for Children since 2007 and also has supported a number of education initiatives that focuses on girls and education.

For more on the US trip, visit the Visit to the US: September 2009 thread.

dazzling Jordanian Royals Ann Veneman, Education, Official Visit, Queen Rania, UNICEF, United States of America

Click here to see the photo from Agence Maghreb Arabe Press

 Last Friday, King Mohammed VI celebrated the opening of a new female student house and training center in Marrakech. The new facility cost around 4.55 million dirhams. It was financed by the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity and the MAMDA-MCMA Construction Foundation, according to an article in the Agence Maghreb Arabe Presse.

Dar Attaliba, the student house, provides courses and accommodation for young women from poor rural areas. It was created in order to combat the dropout rate among this demographic. It can house up to sixty young women, and includes all of the usual amenities of student housing, plus an on-site infirmary, kitchen, and reading room.

The new training center will offer classes in literacy, dress-making and crafts (to help the women earn an income), and training to encourage children’s education. An on-site daycare will also be offered at the training center.

In addition to the new opportunities for women in the fields of education and trade, the Minister of Social Development, Family and Solidarity recently gave an interview to the Global Post where she highlighted the achievements of the Moroccan government and King in helping to improve the lives of women. Nouzha Skalli discussed the new Family Code. This law helps to provide equal rights and responsibilities for husbands and wives. There is also a criminal code, which makes sexual harassment in the workplace illegal. These laws were created to help combat violence against women, a subject that, until recently, was considered taboo in Morocco.

To read about, and to discuss King Mohammed VI and the Moroccan Royal Family, please visit this thread.

sgl Moroccan Royals Education, Mohammed VI, Women's Rights

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 As they did with Leonor two years ago, today Prince Felipe and Princess Leticia took their youngest daughter, Sofia, to kindergarten. Today was not the first day that Sofia attends the day-care centre as she has been attending since September 3.

Sofia will start her school life in the same kindergarten her sister attended, which is located at King’s Royal Guard Quarters in El Pardo, near Zarzuela Palace.

The daughter of the Prince and Princess of Asturias will began the day at 8:30am and will leave school at 3:00pm, so she will lunch and take the “siesta” in the centre. Sofia will share lessons and games with the other 40 children whose parents work in the King Quarters.

Paty Spanish Royals Education, Infanta Sofia

Prince Laurent causes much controversy again in Belgium with his decision to send his 6-year old daughter Louise, who charmed the media this summer on the National Day, to a French state school.

Click to see article at deredactie.be

This action causes negative comments in whole of Belgium. Not only is the Princess apparently raised without learning Dutch in school, she is now also sent to a French school, not even a Belgian one. According to the article, the Prince could no longer afford the school fee for the private school in Tervuren where the Princess used to go to school, which amounts to about €25.000 per year. The costs of sending her to the Lycée Français would come down to €500 per year.

Both sides of the language barrier think this is a bad move of the royal family. On the Flemish side, people wonder why the Prince would not send his daughter to a school which doesn’t teach her any Dutch, a language which is important in the Brussels job market, as the Princess will have to earn her living later on. In her school in Tervuren, the Princess was also educated in French and English, not in Dutch. On the Francophone side of the language barrier, people wonder why the Prince is sending her to a French school and not a Belgian one. “Aren’t Belgian schools good enough then?” one politician wonders aloud.

The decision is sure to make the Prince less popular in both parts of the country.

See here for an article in Dutch.
See here for a thread discussing Prince Laurent’s current events.

LadyLeana Belgian Royals Education, Prince Laurent, Princess Louise of Belgium

Click image to view on daylife.com

Queen Rania of Jordan helped launch the 1GOAL: Education for All campaign, along with football’s world governing body FIFA and footballers from across the globe, on Thursday. The campaign will try to ensure all children receive an education, the 1GOAL: Education for All is linked to next year’s World Cup in South Africa. 1GOAL has one purpose and that is to ensure that 75 million children out of school in Africa and the world’s poorest countries get access to classrooms, teachers and the future that education provides.

“I’m proud to support 1GOAL; it isn’t asking for money, it’s asking for your name, your commitment to fair play for future generations,” at the launch of the campaign at the Wembley Stadium, Queen Rania said. She went on saying that “When children are denied an education, society as a whole loses out. It’s the best investment you can make to help people lift themselves out of poverty, the one investment you can make that will never shrink in value.”

If you are interested, you can join 1GOAL at 1 GOAL | Facebook or follow at www.twitter.com/join1goal.

dazzling Jordanian Royals Education, England, Queen Rania, Soccer, Sport

 Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan has been appointed as Honorary Global Chair for The United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI). Queen Rania will continue to advocate on behalf of the girls who are denied an education. The appointment comes after Queen Rania’s work and efforts in promoting access, quality, and innovation in education both in Jordan and across the globe in places such as Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Morocco and Pakistan.

Queen Rania has called education “more than a basic human right.” She has also noted that girls throughout the world “lose out to poverty and cultural biases because families invest in sons over daughters when they struggle to survive. They leave education early because many schools fail to provide sanitation facilities that give girls the privacy and dignity they deserve. They lack female role models to emulate, to inspire them, to help them imagine what they can become. ”

Queen Rania has served as a UNICEF’s First Eminent Advocate for Children since 2007.

dazzling Jordanian Royals Education, Patronage, Queen Rania, United Nations

click here to see the photos from the Isle of Wight County Press

 Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, visited the Isle of Wight on Thursday. She met with ambulance operators and volunteers, who provide first-aid support for the island’s residents. Young volunteers, who are known as Badgers and Cadets, demonstrated their knowledge of first-aid, radio and computer skills for the Countess.

The Countess serves as Grand President of St. John’s Ambulance. The charity has centers all over the island, but only two ambulances currently serve the population, and the residents are hoping to be able to buy another ambulance. The chairman of St. John’s, Major Randall Cross, told the Isle of Wight County Press that “one of the ambulances needs to retire”.

Sophie also met with the county president, and the deputy county medical officer. She gave her support of the appeal to purchase a new ambulance. The islanders have already raised some of the money needed to make this goal a reality.

In addition to meeting with the Ambulance Council, the Countess of Wessex also met with students from St. Catherine’s school. She ate lunch at the school, and was presented with a lovely floral bouquet by an 8 year-old student.

For more information about the St. John’s Ambulance Badgers and Cadets, please visit this website.

To read about, and to discuss the Countess of Wessex, please visit this thread.

sgl British Royals Countess of Wessex, Education, Isle of Wight, Official Visit